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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25768888">My Everlasting Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mer_maider/pseuds/mer_maider'>mer_maider</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aliens, Altean Colony (Voltron), Emperor Lotor (Voltron), F/M, Good Lotor (Voltron), Grieving, Hero Worship, Lost Love, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shameless Smut, Smut, Vaginal Sex, past Ventor - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:14:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25768888</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mer_maider/pseuds/mer_maider</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Lotor was torn inside out when his father forced him to watch the planet he'd loved burn before his eyes, taking away his only happiness. Centuries later, exiled and haunted by grief, he will do whatever it takes to save the last of the Alteans that survived Emperor Zarkon's extermination. It is a heavy burden he carries for their freedom, and one Altean woman is desperate to show her gratitude to her brave redeemer on the colony</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lotor (Voltron)/Original Character(s), Lotor/Ven'tar (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My Everlasting Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were birds here, he saw, his head craned up to the clouds, blue eyes watching as the winged creatures soared over him. Their long orange feathers flapped and one opened its beak and screeched before the entire flock changed direction and headed south. They were slow fliers but they flew majestically, large enough to scare off whatever would prey upon them. One led them all, and the others followed because the leader told them where they were going. He would keep them all safe, all together. Alive and well.</p>
<p>Lotor would do the same for his people.</p>
<p>He had done research on this planet, extensive studying that had occupied him day and night for two movements straight with hardly any sleep. He knew there were species of birds here but he had yet to see those large orange ones. New Altea went quiet around him as he watched them fly. Just the wind in his ears and the sunlight on his face and the local fauna. His eyelids lowered some, his shoulders releasing a bit of tension. His hands unclenched at his sides.</p>
<p>This place, the air of it, the wildlife. It reminded him of…</p>
<p>“Prince Lotor.”</p>
<p>He didn’t startle or snap back to attention. He simply closed his eyes for a tick or two, face still craned up to the sky, the birds, the togetherness of the entire flock. They were defenseless if they weren’t all together.</p>
<p>The people must stay together.</p>
<p>When he was ready, he simply took a breath and looked to the one who’d spoken his name. “Please go on.”</p>
<p>Lotor caught a dash of worry in the grass green eyes of the Altean man that matched the markings under them. Matteo was his name, and Lotor paid no mind to his concern as he cleared his throat before resuming. “As I was saying before… construction of the infirmary finished shortly after your last visit. Our healers have been able to stock up well on medicinal herbs and other plants and berries from the planet, and with the supplies you provided us, we were able to perform our first <em>proper</em> surgery. It was successful,” Matteo told him with pride, hugging his tablet to his chest as if he was unable to contain his excitement. Under those bright green marks, Lotor could see a slight pink flush of happiness.</p>
<p>The Prince couldn’t help but grin. “That is fantastic news. Was it for injury or sickness?” Hopefully injury, Lotor thought to himself. If there was something or someone here causing a sickness, he would have ten times more work on his hands. Unless of course the surgery was for a harmful case of the Slipperies.</p>
<p>“Neither, sir. One of our women was with child. Or… children, I suppose. She was pregnant with twins. Unfortunately we didn’t have the machinery capable of showing us she’d been carrying multiples, so it was quite the surprise when she screamed that she wasn’t done after giving birth to one baby girl. They were her first babies, so the surgeon had to operate to extract the second one due to some complication. The mother and her babies are doing well, and now that you’ve provided us with even more equipment, we are now able to catch multiples.”</p>
<p>Lotor lifted a white brow. “A birth? Last I was here all of our pregnant mothers had already had their babies.”</p>
<p>More smiling, more wiggling. This area of good news was especially pleasing to Matteo. “Our mother of twin girls is the first woman to conceive and give birth here on the colony. We have a handful of pregnant women now at different stages but she is the first to do both on New Altea. Isn’t that grand news, your majesty?”</p>
<p>It was more than grand, Lotor thought as he took the tablet from Matteo so he could see a photograph taken of the laughing new mother holding her newborn daughters. More Alteans, repopulating what the rest of the universe believed was an extinct race. The next generation of New Altea was being born, and one day these little daughters would have babies as well if they desired children, and give birth to the next generation. And then they the next.</p>
<p>It could one day be as if the Altea of old had never been lost.</p>
<p>Lotor’s eyes softened as he studied the photograph, his heart filling too. The mother looked exhausted as she lay in her bed healing from surgery, but still she held her sleeping babies she never would’ve been able to have had it not been for his efforts to save them. Planets he’d loved had died, but all this long and tiring work was worth it if he could bring them back.</p>
<p>Well… bring at least one planet back. The other he’d once loved would be lost forevermore.</p>
<p>But now was not the time for sad reminders of great failure.</p>
<p>“After this meeting I will visit her and her daughters, if she permits it,” Lotor told Matteo, handing him the tablet back. He began walking along the path the landscapers had built, hands behind his back as he watched those around him work to create a society. Matteo scrambled to keep up with him as Lotor continued. “I would like the names of the other pregnant women as well. Send that list to my unit, and where I can find each of them.”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir. I’m sure they would love a visit from you. They’re able to conceive and have their children safely because of your grace and wisdom.”</p>
<p>The softening in his eyes hardened a tad at those words. “And what of the academy?”</p>
<p>Matteo flicked his finger over the screen of the tablet until he found the information his Prince desired. “It is a work in progress, but coming along. Our teachers have been working night and day to create a suitable curriculum for the children. As all of our history was lost for a long time, they’re starting from scratch. Most of the school day is dedicated to academics, and the remaining varga to combat and weaponry, as you requested.”</p>
<p>“I requested lessons in their shapeshifting ability as well,” Lotor reminded him coolly.</p>
<p>“Yes… Um, some of the teachers wonder, my Lord, if such lessons are necessary? Now that you’ve created a safe haven for us in such a place, some think it best to focus on academics and honing their skills for work, for the colony. There are some who still feel trauma when using their shapeshifting. The ability does not bring about pleasant memories anymore.”</p>
<p>Lotor couldn’t imagine that it would, especially when most of them had had to use their gift in fear for their lives, to hide from his father’s army. Emperor Zarkon had hunted the Alteans and the only thing that had spared their lives was their shapeshifting, and his own efforts to find them and bring them here. Shaking in the presence of any Galra who crossed their path as they wore a different face was a traumatic thing indeed.</p>
<p>But had it not been for such an ability, he never would have been able to save the ones he’d found.</p>
<p>“The children will learn shapeshifting and master it,” Lotor told Matteo, his voice hard and demanding, and final. “It is a defense measure I will not have them be without. If New Altea is to thrive, then everyone must put aside their traumas and do what must be done.”</p>
<p>Just as he had when he came up with this plan, and taken on this duty. He’d had to lock the flames away, to turn away from them this time instead of watch them destroy some very crucial chunks of his heart.</p>
<p>Lotor didn’t have to be looking at Matteo to know the Altean man felt conflicted by his decision. But after plugging in the Prince’s commands as notes, he muttered, “Yes, sir.”</p>
<p>“Anything else?”</p>
<p>“Well…” Matteo cleared his throat again, took a beat even as he raised his hand to wave to someone nearby who was using a machine to trim up the grass as he and the Prince passed them on their walk. “The locals pleaded with me to bring something to your attention. Something they wish to build, here in the capital city.”</p>
<p>“What is it, Matteo?” He was already on his way to the infirmary, ready to see the newborn babies and their healing mother. He needed to thank her, wanted to encourage her. And hopefully that would encourage others to procreate as well in this new safety of theirs that was improving by leaps and bounds with every visit.</p>
<p>“Ah… They wish to build a… statue. Of you. Right here, for all to enjoy.”</p>
<p>Lotor suddenly stopped, and Matteo scurried so he wouldn’t bump into the Prince. He spun towards the Altean man. “A statue?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Prince Lotor. Obviously plans would have to be drawn up and the perfect location would have to be approved by you, of course. And we would need to acquire all the necessary materials which could take a significant amount of time but… It is something we want. Perhaps it is something we need.”</p>
<p>Lotor held Matteo’s gaze, considered his words. Something they wanted, something they needed. “And what need is that?”</p>
<p>“Your majesty,” Matteo began, swallowing before taking one small step closer to his Prince. “If I could just be frank with you?”</p>
<p>“Go on.”</p>
<p>“The need I speak of is the need for your presence. The reminder of you, of the strength you’ve given to all of us. When you return to us, you do not leave us again immediately but you <em>do</em> leave us. We celebrate your departure as well as your arrival because that brings us more aide and hopefully more Alteans you’ve rescued from elimination, but there is something about you being here <em>with us</em> that is very… peaceful. It feels like light, and more peace than we’ve felt in a very long time after Altea’s destruction. We understand that you cannot stay here but we’re all in agreement that having a great likeness of you that we can see and visit everyday and teach our children about, like those newborn girls, will help us continue to feel that peace for when you are not here.”</p>
<p>Did they need him as a crutch, Lotor wondered as he silently processed Matteo’s explanation while New Altea was continuing to be built around them. He hadn’t realized how dependent they were on him until then, but it was something that made sense. Zarkon slays their king and destroys their home world, forcing them to go into hiding and live as another with a face and body that wasn’t their own, until the son of Zarkon with every resource available to him gathers them all up and gives them a paradise that is unreachable to their enemies. They wanted him as protection because he had protected them. They wanted him as a savior because he had saved them, a savior they needed with them to get through these hard days and the fear that still lingered for most of them. It made sense, of course it did. Of course he wanted them to feel peace when he was not here.</p>
<p>But, Lotor realized as he looked away from Matteo, he was not yet ready for that kind of dependence. That kind of hope and love.</p>
<p>The last time he had been depended on for such things had ended in tragedy, in flames with him on his knees. And one great loss he could never forgive himself for.</p>
<p>“No,” Lotor simply said to him.</p>
<p>Matteo swallowed again and blinked. “Sir? No?”</p>
<p>Lotor straightened up – he hadn’t realized he’d slouched some in thought – and continued along the path. “No, Matteo. We will not discuss any plans for building a statue at this time. Perhaps we can revisit it again in the future, but for now there are more important matters to focus on. Like visiting newborn younglings and glowing mothers to-be. Tell me how hydroponics is coming along.”</p>
<p>Matteo went right back to business, rambling on about an alternative way of growing plants without soil so the harvest could potentially triple. Lotor’s absence and arrival was never a scheduled thing. He could be gone an entire year or more before returning, so the Alteans would have to fend for themselves when he was not here to supply them, in case his absence would last a significant amount of time. Along the way, as Lotor listened to information with half an ear, many Alteans grinned and bowed to him. Some stopped what they were doing to watch him pass them by, that great hope in their eyes whether he wanted it there or not.</p>
<p>This was his duty. This was his purpose.</p>
<p>Inside, he felt like he was being ripped into two.</p>
<p>
  <em>If New Altea is to thrive, then everyone must put aside their traumas and do what must be done. </em>
</p>
<p>He had to do what must be done, no matter the cost.</p>
<p>He couldn’t be loved again and fail.</p>
<p>Matteo didn’t stop speaking until a group of young children overpowered him in volume with their great laughter and scampering feet and gleeful squeals. As with the orange birds earlier, Lotor felt the need to stop and watch them, to drift away in sound and sight of something natural and happy and carefree. A bunch of little children, boys and girls out of the academy for the day, ran along the paths and in the grass and wildflowers. A few of their knees and cheeks were already dirty from play and one of the girls had a big hole in her dress that would need to be mended later. He’d never seen such happy children before.</p>
<p>He’d never had the chance to <em>be</em> a happy child like them.</p>
<p>Like the birds, they were free.</p>
<p>“We’re gonna catch you, Ember!” one giggling little girl shouted.</p>
<p>Out of nowhere there was a woman running now, looking back at the group of friends as they chased after her. On her bare feet she zigged and zagged her way out of their grasping arms and hands, laughing with them as they tried their hardest on their little legs to snag her.</p>
<p>Lotor’s blue eyes studied the woman amongst the children.</p>
<p>She wore a simple white dress, the skirt of it ending right above her knees and the sleeves short. Her skin, kissed by the sun, made him wonder if she held a position doing outside work but the excitement in her eyes and on her smiling mouth changed his prediction to possibly working with the children who seemed to adore her. Those excited eyes were as lavender as his own skin, matching the bouncy hair on her head. Her purple locks ended at her shoulders, bangs just as wavy, and right under her eyes were Altean marks the color of berries or wine. The fun dress she wore was not formfitting, and Lotor could see the tips of more burgundy markings at her shoulders. Usually Alteans dressed more modestly, but this woman seemed to want the sunlight on her skin.</p>
<p>Her long, tanned legs leapt over one of the smaller children when he’d fallen trying to catch her. As she tumbled to the ground, rolling in the grass, she opened her mouth to laugh as the children finally tackled her.</p>
<p>“Even with combat training, the little ones have a lot of energy after their schooling,” Matteo told him.</p>
<p>“They look very happy.” Lotor watched a little girl, the smallest of them and the one with a hole in her dress, fall into the woman’s lap with a little yellow flower clutched in her tiny hand.</p>
<p>“Uncle Matteo! Uncle Matteo!”</p>
<p>One of the boys ran to them, prompting all the others in the group to follow out of curiosity.</p>
<p>“My nephew,” Matteo told the Prince as he bent to pick the child up and spin around with him. “I’m eternally thankful I was off planet with my sister when the war began.” When he was placed back on the ground, the little boy’s stunned expression matched all the other children as they stared up, up, up at Lotor with mouths agape.</p>
<p>“You’re very tall,” the nephew said to him, one front tooth missing. “And purple.”</p>
<p>A hand was placed on the boy’s fluffy brown hair and ruffled some. Lotor found the woman now standing in the middle of the group, a smile on her wide mouth. “Don’t be rude.” Her lavender eyes lifted to meet his, dark lashes batting at him. “Hello, my Lord.”</p>
<p>All the children echoed her.</p>
<p>“Hello, children,” Lotor said, but his gaze wandered back to the woman, and the soft freckles sprinkled over her cheeks like stars. It was hard not to notice her, such a colorful lady towering over all the little ones who kept close to her like she was their adult sister or their best friend.</p>
<p>“Hello, my Lord,” the smallest girl with the ripped dress repeated to him, and very dramatically as she gave the best little curtsey she could as if she were a noble herself. She peered back to the woman for a quick study before she made herself stand exactly like her and then held up the yellow flower to him, a simple weed she must’ve thought very pretty. “For you.”</p>
<p>Lotor crouched down to her. “Why thank you. It is beautiful.” He took the flower and her very tiny hand, and softly kissed it.</p>
<p>The girl blushed and giggled and pushed her way back to the woman so she could hold onto her leg.</p>
<p>As Lotor stood back up, the woman said to him, “Only the best for you, Prince Lotor. Rosalie told me that was the most stunning flower she’s ever picked.”</p>
<p>Her voice was husky and breathy and held the accent known to be from the great city on their home world where the king had lived. Had she known King Alfor, or been a noble herself? “Then I shall treasure it,” he answered for the girl.</p>
<p>“Sir, forgive me, but we wouldn’t want to arrive at the maternity ward too late,” Matteo muttered nervously.  </p>
<p>“Come, children,” the woman said to them. “Let’s go play in the river before sundown.”</p>
<p>A bunch of hoots and hollers and polite bows to the Prince and they were already taking off, Rosalie tugging on the woman’s hand to get her to race off as well but not wanting to leave her behind.</p>
<p>The woman smiled at him, holding his gaze as she was tugged. She dipped into a curtsey. “Good day, my Lord.”</p>
<p>Lotor watched her race off with the children, her bare feet sinking into the grass and she looked so natural doing it that he wondered if she’d ever worn shoes in her previous life on Altea. He watched, still holding the yellow flower, until he couldn’t see any of her purple bouncing hair anymore.</p>
<p>Matteo was talking again, but Lotor didn’t hear a word of it.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The visit with the newborn younglings had started off well and was a great accomplishment to be proud of… but it had not ended that way. At least not for Lotor.</p>
<p>The young new mother, cheeks flushed and eyes tired, had welcomed him, though he did see her nerves in the way she pawed at her own hair, attempting to fix it up and sit up straighter in her bed even though she was healing from surgical wounds. He tried to be as assuring as possible but no matter how easy he tried to make it for her, the way she fussed could not be stopped. When he’d asked if he could hold one of the girls, the mother had eagerly handed him both babies, and he couldn’t stop her efforts to show her reverence. To perhaps honor her instead.</p>
<p>Holding new Altean life was a great success to Lotor. His father had destroyed their planet and their king, but Zarkon’s son had helped two more be born. Everything he’d worked for and fought for, everything he’d dreamed of long ago, was now nestled in his embrace and sleeping soundly after the big task of entering this new world from the safety of the womb. Their Altean marks were so tiny and they were so light and delicate, merely specks in this big new world. One day they would grow up and be Altean women who would not know war and helplessness and death. They would know the sun and the love of their mother and New Altea. They would know him as a great and kind leader who would do anything to protect them. All things he had never known himself.</p>
<p>As he’d stared at the babies he held, suddenly Lotor felt the ever present heartbreak he’d been keeping at bay with his great task. With work, with fighting, with transporting more Alteans and more supplies beyond the quantum abyss. He felt it because he was stagnant, holding something that didn’t really belong to him because he could never have it as his own. Not anymore.</p>
<p>Not after the flames had taken his one chance away. Sometimes a man didn’t get a second chance for such things.</p>
<p>If he kept moving, if he kept himself occupied with his task, he could keep away from the scorching heat of the flames that wanted to swallow him up too. And so, when he returned to the place where he slept, he drank Galran ale until he passed out.</p>
<p>The next morning, after taking something for the headache he woke up with, Lotor stood under a giant tree’s shade where a workspace for the current construction was set up. Tables were covered with plans and tablets and a few tools, and he looked over everything while making other mental notes for himself. In the construction area, Alteans were building more of the homes Lotor had designed in the very beginning, homes that were easy to build quickly and suitable for their new environment. Practically metal yurts, their homes were more round and could easily be enlarged for families. He had his own near the first homes that had been built for the first Alteans he’d brought here so he didn’t have to live and sleep in his ship.</p>
<p>It was nice to be outside, he thought, inhaling the fresh air and listening to the sounds of civilization being built around him. The construction crew built the homes, the gardeners planted what had remained of Altea’s seeds that had been squirreled away like lost treasure, and his engineers worked endlessly on medicine and machines and other technologies. But hearing life happening around him also made him remember everything else that needed to be done that didn’t involve creating, but mending the issues that had already been here.</p>
<p>Issues like the traumatic stress most of the Alteans suffered with after so long in hiding, or the grief they felt for their planet and their king and the loved ones they’d lost in the war. Or the need for more birth control and other resources for safe sex because not every woman wanted to procreate but still deserved to feel pleasure and not every Altean here had been intimate with only Alteans. Or the ever increasing list of names he was given of Alteans who were still lost and could’ve possibly been off planet at the time of Altea’s destruction. That was something that brought him despair whenever a man approached him wondering if Lotor had come across his spouse or his brother or his own child while he traveled the universe seeking them out. Obviously if he’d found the spouse or the brother or the child, they would be here and not missing.</p>
<p>But Lotor couldn’t say something like that to those who still grieved. It would be too cruel.</p>
<p>It was nice to be outside, he thought again, closing his eyes and blocking out all the sounds save for the wind or the chirps of insects or the rustling in the leaves above him. It was nice to smell nature, nice to feel the warmth from the sun instead of the coldness of deep space.</p>
<p>It would be nice… to just <em>relax.</em></p>
<p>But he couldn’t. He couldn’t.</p>
<p>Since the flames, he could barely sleep if he didn’t make himself pass out in some way. And it had been many, <em>many</em> nights since then.</p>
<p>When he opened his eyes again, now staring down at all the plans and tasks that needed his attention, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps in the grass and a shadow of a body making its way towards him. He was expecting one of the crew or even Matteo.</p>
<p>He was not expecting the woman with the purple hair and eyes who’d played so blissfully with the children the day before.</p>
<p>“Good morning, my Lord.”</p>
<p>She wore white again, he saw, only this time her dress didn’t have sleeves, but two thin straps settled on top of her tanned shoulders and the skirt reaching her feet that were once again bare. Over one arm was the handle of a wicker basket and immediately he smelled something sweet coming from it. The white dress and the display of more skin made her burgundy markings stand out as much as her purple locks. She was smiling at him - hardly ever without a smile, it seemed - and kept a respectable distance away, as all of them usually did when alone with him. Lotor always wondered if they were afraid, intimidated by his Galran half since not all of him looked like them. His skin was the color of her hair. Surely they all thought that strange.</p>
<p>It was better for him to assume it was something wrong with him and not them. Something like… them seeing him in ways they should not.</p>
<p>Like something the Ancients had sent to them as an answer to their prayers.</p>
<p>“Good morning,” Lotor finally answered. “Please come into the shade. I see you are without your band of little ones.”</p>
<p>Her bangs covered her eyebrows, but Lotor could still see them lift underneath when she approached the table. “You remember me?”</p>
<p>“Of course. It was only yesterday.”</p>
<p>“Forgive me, I know you’re a busy man. I know you can’t remember every face you rescue or every Altean you meet a second time here on New Altea. And my band of little ones are sitting at their desks at the academy this morning. Hopefully learning something.” She stood by the table, gave a slight bow. “My name is Ember.”</p>
<p>Ember with the lavender hair and eyes, he filed away. And a very unique husky voice. “I assume at least one of those children were yours?”</p>
<p>She gave a soft laugh. “Oh no. I have no children of my own, nor a mate. During academy hours I help with the gardens and after they are released, I keep some of the children busy while their parents finish up their duties. I enjoy playing with them very much.”</p>
<p>The way she spoke, her accent. Surely she was incredibly intelligent and had proper education of her own back on Altea. “You are not a teacher, then? Wouldn’t that be a more suitable position for you?”</p>
<p>“No, my Lord, I could never. I don’t possess the skills nor the desire to mold susceptible minds. I like having fun,” she simply told him, and not ashamed of her honesty. “Someone must keep an eye on them when their parents are unable to do so, or just need a break and some quiet. We all have our strengths and mine is not to teach. Mine is to run and play and swim and make the children laugh.”</p>
<p>“That is a very brave and admirable strength.”</p>
<p>A bit surprised, she tilted her head to the side. “How so?”</p>
<p>“Adults can easily disregard children, or see them as a nuisance. Or simply not allow them to be children.” Like the way he’d been disregarded even when he did what his father expected of him. Like how he had been a nuisance to the Emperor when all his little son had wanted was to be near him. Like the way he’d had to learn how to control a universe when he should have been able to run and laugh and play. “The fact that you enjoy being with them even though you have no children of your own is admirable in my eyes.”</p>
<p>Her gratitude was evident on her face, as it was in all of their faces when he would say such things to anyone. But this time he didn’t seem to mind it. It was strange that he didn’t mind it.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” she said softly.</p>
<p>The cupid’s bow in her lips was a very sharp point on her wide mouth.</p>
<p>The wind picked up around them, and he caught her scent. The same sweet and fresh smell coming from that basket she held. Lotor brushed some of his long white locks away from his face before placing his hands behind his back, his coattails also flapping with the breeze. The work on the table could wait a few moments. “When did you arrive here?” he asked her. Obviously, as she’d said, he could not remember every face he’d saved, every name he’d been told. There had even been many Alteans who had refused to drop their disguise out of fear until he’d brought them here to New Altea.</p>
<p>“Three deca-phoebs ago, my Lord. The shipment of slaves being transported from Olkarion to a Galran prison. I believe it was your strike team of generals who ambushed the delivery ship before we reached our destination.”</p>
<p>“That’s right.” Lotor had received intel from other Alteans he’d already rescued on the potential whereabouts of others.  When he’d also learned of the transport, he’d sent his generals – face shields up - to gather them all up with the hopes that a couple Alteans would be on board. His suspicions had been correct, and his generals had done a scan on the entire group, silently separating the shapeshifted Alteans from the rest of the Olkari, who they had returned to Olkarion. “What business did you have on Olkarion when the war began?”</p>
<p>Ember’s smile remained, but it did drop some under her markings. “No business, Prince Lotor. I was not on Olkarion during that time. I made my way there eventually because it was easiest, and those were dreadful times.”</p>
<p>His heart clenched in his chest, though he kept the pain out of his expression. He’d heard one too many awful stories about the lost Altean’s ordeals after their home world had been destroyed. “I hope you’ve settled in well, Ember.”</p>
<p>Her lavender eyes flashed. “That is in great thanks to you. You saved my life, the children’s lives, everyone here. No matter how many children I tend to and no matter how much I assist in the gardens, I could never repay you.”</p>
<p>Lotor only looked away for the first time since she’d arrived, down to the plans on the table in front of him.</p>
<p>Ember set her basket on the table top, off of anything important. “Would you like a juniberry muffin, my Lord? It was the reason I came to see you this morning, to offer you some breakfast if you haven’t eaten.”</p>
<p>His white brows rose in surprise. “Juniberries?”</p>
<p>“Yes. Baked fresh before dawn, and they’ve remained warm from the sun.”</p>
<p>“The Juniberry flower now grows here?”</p>
<p>She nodded happily. “Seeds are precious, and we’ve worked hard to help them grow successfully. I never thought I would see the flower or taste these muffins, or even drink juniberry wine ever again.”</p>
<p>Lotor had never seen juniberry muffins before, or even the flower itself. As he made a mental note to visit the gardens later, he peered into her basket to see a pastry he thought was lost forever. Something of the Altea he’d never known, something of his mother’s people. Something his mother had no doubt eaten herself. And they smelled delicious, he discovered. Little magenta colored muffins that would be packed with bits of the now rare berry that had once covered fields of Altea.</p>
<p>The scent and the look of them and the sheer success of them brought… a sudden burst of that calmness he’d once felt a very long time ago on another planet.</p>
<p>One that had become a charred husk and consumed by the Weblum.</p>
<p>“You can have the entire basket if you like,” Ember said then, causing his eyes to flick up towards her. She never seemed to look anywhere else while in his presence. “You can always have whatever you want, my Prince.”</p>
<p>Her irises were purple but she was close enough that Lotor could see the pink pupils of her eyes that was a trait of most Altean females. She smelled like the muffins and the earth she walked upon without shoes. His eyes dropped down to the ground, spotted her bare toes peeking out from under her long white dress.</p>
<p>The tone of her breathy voice made his elfin ears twitch some.</p>
<p>“What did you do before?” he asked her. He usually didn’t like to pry, but this woman was a curious thing to him. “On Altea.”</p>
<p>She smirked up at him. “For work or for play?”</p>
<p>His blue eyes very quickly fell to her mouth before he could stop it, and he wasn’t sure why. “For work.”</p>
<p>Ember turned some, leaning her lower back against the edge of the table. She was a couple inches shorter than him, but still seemed tall for an Altean woman. “I was nothing but a lowly servant girl, my Lord.”</p>
<p>“That can’t possibly be true.”</p>
<p>“Oh no?” she questioned playfully. “Why is that?”</p>
<p>“I… must say that I just can’t see it. The way you speak, your accent. I would’ve guessed you were a noble of some kind.”</p>
<p>She tilted her head back, lavender locks falling behind her, as she giggled. “That is very kind of you, I’m flattered. I may have truly been nothing but a servant, but among my peers I did hold an enviable position. I was a servant to the royal family.”</p>
<p>“The king and queen of Altea.” He’d only seen a hologram of them once, just the two of them when the king had been a younger man. The last histories of Altea had all been destroyed. “I’m sure it was an enviable position because you were compensated well?”</p>
<p>Ember lifted one tanned shoulder, and for the first time since she’d trotted up to him, she looked away, up to the rustling leaves of the tree over them. “I collected more coin than most servant girls, was given a lovely room in the guest house on palace grounds, and kept safe because I lived there. There was hardly anything to complain about. My mate was even allowed to live with me.”</p>
<p>Not only were there freckles on her cheeks, Lotor saw, but also some on her shoulders as well. This woman he was looking at now had been a servant to King Alfor. The stories she could tell him. “And on New Altea, you are without a mate.”</p>
<p>“His name was Elias. He was a guard on the palace grounds.” She removed her purple eyes from the leaves, and back to his own. “Your father’s men slaughtered him.”  </p>
<p>Whatever calmness he’d felt before was starting to heat up inside him and evaporate. Heating up by a fire that wouldn’t stop burning. “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Lotor wondered if she could feel it too, that heat inside him burning him up and hurting. She looked at him, really looked the way one person truly gazes at another and not someone seen as savior, and her lashes batted over the pink and purple of her eyes. “Don’t apologize. We are not our fathers. You are less yours than any of us, my Lord.”</p>
<p>He swallowed.</p>
<p>The words were familiar ones, ones he’d heard before by only one other person. Someone long dead now.</p>
<p>Someone consumed by flames.</p>
<p>He looked away from her as he asked, “How did you survive?”</p>
<p>“I was off planet. Elias stayed behind, he was ever loyal to the king. It was almost nauseating how loyal he was.”</p>
<p>“And you were not as nauseatingly loyal as a servant girl?”</p>
<p>Ember grinned, a true one and not a rueful and traumatized one like every other adult here who would speak of the past. “No. No one <em>wants</em> to be a servant girl, even to the king and queen and their princess. No one wants to be cooped up in a palace all day long instead of out in the sunshine and enjoying freedom. What I wanted most… is what you have given me here.”</p>
<p>Freedom, Lotor mused. This servant girl had wanted freedom and he had provided it because he had been banished. Two types of freedom, he supposed. But unlike Ember, he didn’t feel it the way she apparently did here and maybe he never would. “Were you looking for new employment off planet, then? That isn’t like an Altean.”</p>
<p>“I was looking for anything but Altea,” Ember plainly told him, unashamed. “To be truthful with you, Prince Lotor, I did not feel comfortable with King Alfor’s actions against Daibazaal. When Emperor Zarkon returned and the king kept making more decisions I disagreed with, decisions I did not feel would keep me safe, I left for my life. The Galra Empire has never been a force to underestimate, and I felt in my heart the king would put us all in great danger, so I left before the danger could find me. But it found us all anyway, regardless if we loved the king or not.”</p>
<p>Lotor had so many questions for her. He remembered how he usually didn’t pry unless they willingly offered information themselves, but he couldn’t stop himself. There was something about her that was unlike the others. “I don’t meet many Alteans who feel ill will towards King Alfor.”</p>
<p>She gave a little shrug. “Nauseatingly loyal, all.”</p>
<p>It shocked him to hear himself laugh softly. When had he last laughed? He knew when but he didn’t like to remember it.</p>
<p>Ember then turned towards him, easing one hip against the table. It put her a little closer to him. “I don’t miss serving a king who put me in danger, and I do not regret staying behind to be killed like Elias, and the queen, and the princess. There was a hard and terrifying time afterwards when only my biology was keeping me alive and I had to become people that I am not. But this is my reward… standing here under a green tree with a man who did not put me in danger, but instead plucked me out of it, and offered me a home where I don’t have to be as pale as I once was, or as shackled by my duties.” One of her hands slowly drifted down the white of her skirt. She took some of it between a couple of fingers, right over the curve of her hip. Lotor watched as one of her bare feet became much more visible, and then an ankle. And then some of her tanned calf that had apparently not seen much of the sun back on Altea.</p>
<p>“You gave me the sun and the freedom to run and play,” she murmured, looking up through long lashes and wavy purple bangs. “You are someone worthy of my loyalty, someone I am happy to serve. I would do anything for you.”</p>
<p>He knew Alteans had markings all along their bodies besides their faces. He knew some of those markings were on the leg, and the more she lifted up her white skirt, the more he could see of those burgundy swirls of color that would put her up for execution had he not intervened to save her and the rest of her kind. His kind too, he remembered.</p>
<p>Though he was late picking them up, the husky words she’d spoken drifted into his ears, made him instinctively sniff the air. He could smell her now, all of her. Not the muffins she’d carried and not the grass on her feet or the outdoors on her skin. He could smell the woman, and with her scent, he caught the intensions in her words.</p>
<p>One of the straps on her shoulder fell off, exposing more of the swell of one of her breasts. Breasts that were actually quite plentiful, and paired well with the lush curves of her body she was now carrying very seductively. He sniffed again, his gaze locked on that fallen strap.</p>
<p>It was a lot of lust coming from her, he discovered.</p>
<p>Ember kept her eyes on his, kept her breathy voice in his ears when she said softly, “I am at my Lord’s complete disposal.”</p>
<p>So close now that she barely had to move her arm to reach out, and gently brush her fingertips over his coattails hanging at his thigh.</p>
<p>His eyes went dark and grim.</p>
<p>The flames were back, and they gobbled him right up. Just in time for the bell at the temple to ring.</p>
<p>He stepped away from her, as carelessly as he would a Galran soldier. Ember dropped her skirt to conceal her leg and her eyes were surprised, but only slightly. He caught the absence of rejection in her.</p>
<p>Propositions such as these were not new to him, but he would not entertain them. Not here and definitely not with the wild woman Ember who did not miss Altea or her king.</p>
<p>She only stood there, staring at him. Waiting for something. She looked awfully obedient for someone who should feel ashamed.</p>
<p>The bell rung again, and Lotor made a gesture at her, dismissing her, brushing her off, shooing her away. “You’ll need to prepare for your little ones,” he said to her, holding her gaze with more of that grimness oozing out of him. “Go on.”</p>
<p>There had been many women and even men who had tried to seduce him for many reasons. They wanted his protection, his resources, sometimes his child and, even though he was banished from the Empire who had ruined this universe, his title. The son of Zarkon was quite the prize. The son of Zarkon’s body and love would be the ultimate prize that many believed would end their suffering.</p>
<p>He had rejected them all for so long.</p>
<p>The flames had taken whatever desire he thought he could ever feel again.</p>
<p>But unlike those he’d rejected in the past, she didn’t appear to be feeling any kind of embarrassment or disappointment or even hatred for him when she did not get her way. She didn’t seem to be expressing anything even similar.</p>
<p>Instead, she coyly placed her arms behind her back, leaving her fallen strap where it was on her arm, and smiled.</p>
<p>He bristled a bit. “I said go on, Ember.”</p>
<p>She dipped into a curtsey. “My Lord.”</p>
<p>He watched her as she walked off, her face tilting up to the sun as soon as she was out of the shade and back into the sunshine. When she was out of sight, Lotor immediately brought up her profile on one of the tablets, an account of every Altean and their history who was now a denizen of New Altea. Everything she’d told him about herself was true, and corroborated by others.</p>
<p>Just a silly woman wanting a prince to fuck her, he decided. One who smelled as if sensuality and the earth clung to her body like woodsmoke.</p>
<p>As he continued to read, Lotor reached into the basket she’d left him, and took one big bite out of a juniberry muffin.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Another morning, another headache. Another pitiful night of sleep plagued by nightmares and cold sweats and even a few frustrated tears.</p>
<p>He’d decided not to drink anything for the result of passing out and had foolishly assumed his very full day would have exhausted him, but it hadn’t and he’d suffered for it with a restless night. He could barely catch a full hour after jolting awake, fear in his heart that he would open his eyes to fire again, so he’d given up on sleep and headed straight for the fresh air of dawn after taking a blocker for the pain in his head.</p>
<p>Before New Altea would wake and he would need to return to those who depended on him to thrive, Lotor decided to take some time in the early hour for himself.</p>
<p>His Altean-made yurt had been built near a freshwater pond, and the architect had joked that their prince would receive the first lakeview property on New Altea. He only had to hike down a small hill to get to it, a place where he liked to stand and watch the water, to think, and sometimes even to swim. The water was cooling and the mud under his feet was soft, a nice quiet and secluded place for him to attempt to relax, or even bathe when he had a mind to. The Alteans had wanted him to have a place for himself, to thank him for saving their lives.</p>
<p>As the sun was rising at his back, Lotor stared down at the water, water that now surrounded him after he’d shed his clothing that still remained on the hillside and practically fell into the cool freshness of the pond and the smell of damp earth. There weren’t bodies of water like this in space. There wasn’t a home world to return to either.</p>
<p>Once there had been, for a little while. For a single year.</p>
<p>And then it had all burned away because he had failed to stop it.</p>
<p>The headache was starting to disappear because of the blocker and his bones weren’t feeling as tired as he stood in the pond, watching the ripples the movement of his body created on the surface. He’d gotten used to swimming naked and the Alteans always let him be, knowing to wait for him if they couldn’t find him. His hair was soaked and slicked back after plunging under the water a few times to energize himself. To feel the cooling water on his bare skin, fresh water of a living planet, seemed to help with his disastrous sleep the night before.</p>
<p>Lotor reached for his arm above his elbow. Felt the cloth wrapped there that he could never seem to remove. It had been meant to remain there until his death.</p>
<p>Meaningless now, he still couldn’t take it off even though a matching one had burned away and made his own immaterial. He closed his eyes, took a breath, enjoyed the water and the sounds of nature surrounding him. Maybe the pond felt so cool because he felt so hot. For so long he’d felt disconnected from everyone, needing to keep his distance because he was on fire. He was on fire and the Alteans here were not.</p>
<p>He didn’t want them to burn too, and he also didn’t want anyone to put out his flames either. One day the fire would kill him, but only when he allowed it. Until then… he would keep going.</p>
<p>His ears flicked back at the sound of footsteps and his eyes snapped open.</p>
<p>He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Ember skittering down the hillside, ignoring his scattered clothing.</p>
<p>Lotor’s eyes narrowed, though he didn’t move or shout at her. He did, however, send her a mild glare when she reached the bank of the pond, simply standing there in yet another white dress, this one tinier than the others before.</p>
<p>“You don’t look happy to see me, my Lord,” she called out to him.</p>
<p>He lifted a brow, held the glare over his shoulder. “I don’t remember offering you an invitation to my home at such an early and <em>inappropriate</em> varga.” He looked away then when he was sure she saw his expression clearly, keeping her at his back. “And how rude of you to become such a nuisance when I’m undressed.”</p>
<p>“Forgive me, Prince Lotor, but I took the liberty of coming to visit you in your private area because I thought you could use some company.”</p>
<p>He only scoffed.</p>
<p>Lotor didn’t exactly mind that she’d barged over when he was in the pond naked. Many people in his travels had seen his body for one reason or another, and sometimes his physique could be used to get what he wanted. For as much as the Galra had told him he was unattractive for looking too Altean on the surface, they also hadn’t shied away from catching a glimpse of his broad shoulders or his narrow waist or the defined abdominal muscles on his front. His legs were long and muscled and his skin held scars and the length of his white hair was seen as very appealing. Lotor had learned a long time ago not to shy away from his own body, but to use it as he would his mind or his sword.</p>
<p>If Ember thought she could throw him off for catching him at an inconvenient time, then she was mistaken.</p>
<p>A few seconds went by, and she hadn’t moved or said anything. Neither had he. If she didn’t take a hint, he would soon demand she go since simply standing there was foolish on her part, and annoying. But before he could, suddenly he heard her stepping into the pond too. The water splashed behind him and Lotor stared down at the ripples she was making, adding to his own.</p>
<p>He braced, though she’d never be able to tell. The Alteans he’d brought here had yet to cause any worrisome disturbances or commit any crimes. It seemed they were all too damaged mentally and emotionally to bring any chaos to their new home after barely escaping it. But Lotor knew he could not trust anyone, not even a defenseless Altean woman. Their kind were incredibly strong and she possessed abilities he did not have, or at least ones he had yet to unlock or awaken inside himself because he’d had no mother to teach him. Lotor understood the threat she could pose to him. What better place to catch him off guard than in water, something unavailable to him most of his life, and naked in the early morning when most were still sound asleep?</p>
<p>He was ready for anything but he was also a patient man. He would wait, remain still.</p>
<p>Lotor heard a big relaxed sigh come from her as she made her way to him. The surface of the water came to his hips, concealing any intimate bits, so it didn’t go much higher on her body. She was nearing his back. Not the side of him, not the front. Right up behind him. He could feel her gaze on his skin as if she was touching him with her own two hands.</p>
<p>“What’s this on your arm?” she asked innocently, unbothered by his unwelcoming attitude. “It doesn’t look Galran. Definitely not Altean.”</p>
<p>Lotor only moved when he felt her fingertips touch the cloth. With lightning speed, he snatched her hand with his claws and spun his head towards her, his glare no longer a mild, annoyed one. He wouldn’t hurt her yet, but he did squeeze on her hand.</p>
<p>“Don’t,” he warned softly.</p>
<p>Ember blinked up at him with her purple and pink eyes. “Forgive me.”</p>
<p>He only tossed her hand away, and took his heated eyes off hers. He knew she wanted him to look at her, especially since she hadn’t removed her dress, which was obviously now soaked on her skin. Simply disregarding her would be worse for her than looking away out of gentlemanly respect.</p>
<p>She continued wading through the pond, acting as if he wasn’t cursing her. She moved effortlessly, like a creature of the water who enjoyed every second of the sunshine. “It’s gorgeous cloth. It also looks very symbolic,” she commented casually. “And ceremonial. Did my Lord once have a Lady of his own?”</p>
<p>“What do you want?” he asked her harshly, ignoring the stab in his heart, right into a wound that would always be there.</p>
<p>Another innocent blink. “I’m sorry?”</p>
<p>“There is obviously something you want from me. You should know that with each moment you’re in my presence while you behave this way, I feel less inclined to give you anything you could possibly need. So what it is? It must be something very important to you.”</p>
<p>“My Lord, you are mistaken. I don’t want anything from you.”</p>
<p>“I don’t believe you.”</p>
<p>She went quiet, elfin ears flicking back in what he took as her feeling a bit spurned. He watched her carefully, and not in the way she might’ve hoped he would watch her. He studied her, waited for an answer he expected from her. If she was so loyal she would give him one, but perhaps the truth was she felt just as <em>loyal</em> to him as she’d felt for King Alfor. Ember just waded through the pond some more, moving her arms about in the water, creating small waves. She sunk down at some point, but only tipping her head back so she could submerge her purple hair to soak it. Water fell from her locks down her back. Her white dress was completely sodden now.</p>
<p>Ember ran her hands from the top of her head and down the back of her hair, slicking it away from her face. Even her bangs stayed put. “I don’t know what to say to you to make you believe me,” she finally began. “I only wanted to spend time with you. I thought we had a lovely chat yesterday morning. I also know you ate all the muffins I baked.”</p>
<p>“Your miserable excuse isn’t good enough for me.”</p>
<p>Her back was the one kept to him now, and when she looked over her shoulder some, he watched her smirk. “My Lord,” she said huskily as she squeezed water out of her hair and then ran her hands down her shoulders. “You can’t tell me that being in the company of a beautiful woman who wants you isn’t a good excuse for my being here.”</p>
<p>His blue eyes narrowed. “You’re very bold.”</p>
<p>“Don’t you appreciate it?”</p>
<p>“No, actually. Not in this case.”</p>
<p>She twisted her body enough to look at him fully. “Surely I’m not the first woman to approach you in such a way. If you tell me no then I will be the one in disbelief.”</p>
<p>“I don’t care what you believe. And I do not want you.”</p>
<p>Ember pouted a little, but it was still playful. “You wound me, Prince Lotor.”</p>
<p>She swan around a little, dipping her hair back into the water every once in a while. Lotor had expected her to remove her dress some time ago, but she kept it on, content with striding around in the pond with her clothes still on. The observation had his eyes roaming down her body, at the way the soaked fabric clung to her curves. The white was transparent now but he’d purposely not looked before. Now he couldn’t seem to stop himself. She’d neglected to pull on underwear under her tiny dress with its skinny shoulder straps and skirt hem that barely reached the middle of her tanned thighs. It was practically underwear itself. He could see the shape and size of her breasts perfectly, and faintly her nipples too that she was not worried about hiding. It was a body men would drool over. He could see every last wine colored Altean mark, like the one beginning at the base of her spine, and the shininess of her wet skin brought out her freckles. Wet, sun kissed skin with swirls of color that stood out against the white she always wore and the purple of her wavy hair.</p>
<p>Lotor was suddenly very aware of how long it had been since he’d bedded a woman. Far too long. True desire had not taken hold of him since before the flames.</p>
<p>He stopped himself from reaching for the band around his arm. His band that was neither Galran nor Altean.</p>
<p>He didn’t exactly feel desire now but he did feel a… reminder of what it had once felt like.</p>
<p>“You’re not like other Altean women, are you?” he asked her, seemingly out of the blue. Even Lotor was surprised by his own question.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>She appeared to be very interested in cupping handfuls of pondwater, holding it until it seeped from between her fingers. She wasn’t really facing him, perhaps giving him some privacy from his state of undress. He hadn’t even caught her looking at his body the way he’d just done with hers.</p>
<p>“You’re not as… modest as the rest of them.”</p>
<p>Ember giggled softly. “Is that your princely way of saying I dress like a whore?”</p>
<p>“That isn’t what I said.” Lotor would never call a woman a whore as an insult. He’d met many actual whores in his lifetime, and each had always earned his respect if they’d taken on the profession willingly, along with his help if they hadn’t. “Conservative dress appears to be part of the culture, in my experience with them.”</p>
<p>“You may not have said I dress like a whore, but I will say the others dress like prudes. I am not a prude.”</p>
<p>He frowned a little. “That isn’t fair to say.”</p>
<p>She gave a shrug, pondwater cupped in her hands. “I hardly feel any connection to the culture anymore. Why blend in like a meaningless speck of dust? Why continue being as we once were? I am no longer a servant girl to <em>royalty</em>,” she muttered with a roll of her lavender eyes. “I much prefer to stand out like the sun and be who I am, and not bind myself to old traditions that I never liked. The Altea of old is gone and my leader is no longer a foolish and frightened king. My leader is now the half Galran savior of the entire Altean race, one who did what Alfor could not.”</p>
<p>There it was again, Lotor thought. That zing of fear in his heart. A fear of being loved and failing them, like last time. Maybe he truly was just as foolish and frightened as Ember claimed Alfor to be.</p>
<p>Maybe he would never sleep again because the flames were too hot.</p>
<p>“So you decided New Altea would be different from the dead planet? Even though Alteans take charge in my absence?”</p>
<p>“If my very existence did not guarantee execution outside the quantum abyss, I suppose I would say I wouldn’t have agreed to come here. But that is the reality, and shapeshifting can be quite… taxing on some of us. I would certainly be dead right now if you had not saved my life. I owe you for every breath I take, my Lord.”</p>
<p>His frown only deepened. “You don’t owe me.”</p>
<p>“Of course I do. And as selfish as I may sound, I also owe you for the lives of the innocent children I care for. Most of them no longer remember any Altea other than this one. New Altea is changing the Alteans. Because of that, I find my new home to be very tolerable, and even quite wonderful.”</p>
<p>Why was he doing this? Lotor wondered as he stared at his own reflection in the water, at the way his hair was curling over his shoulders as it dried in the early morning sunshine. He had been standing in this same spot since he’d waded out to the middle of the pond, since Ember had taken it upon herself to join him even though he could throw her out. She was keeping herself entertained while ignoring his annoyance at her presence, by exploring the pond, swimming leisurely, actually enjoying it like a sane being, unlike him. He was just standing here naked, even with an intruder.</p>
<p>No wonder he was in such a bad mood, he realized. Standing was bad for him. Being stagnant meant being crushed by the weight of his own grief, and feeling that tightness of the wrap around his arm he couldn’t remove because it was too important. Being still meant falling back into a pit he could not climb out of no matter what he did. No matter how many centuries flew by.</p>
<p>His gaze found Ember again, or really her body. Her waist, her breasts, her neck. Why was he just standing here? he asked himself again. He couldn’t seem to move a muscle.</p>
<p>What would he have to do tonight to make himself pass out?</p>
<p>“My Lord.”</p>
<p>His eyes found her purple ones, and he realized then that she’d come closer to him when he’d been lost in thought. Her transparent white dress meant nothing to her, and neither did her slight nudity. She was standing in front of him now, lavender locks running longer over her shoulders because they were soaked. It would be so easy to reach out and touch her.</p>
<p>It would be so easy for her to reach out and touch him.</p>
<p>Her long lashes batted over her eyes. “I truly don’t want anything from you. That is not why I’ve been coming to see you. My only motive… is to offer <em>you</em> something you might want from me.”</p>
<p>He kept his eyes on hers. He wouldn’t dare look down at her body now. “I do not want you, Ember,” he told her again softly.</p>
<p>She remained undeterred. “I’ve shared a lot of myself with you because you asked, and I always answer honestly. You don’t have to want <em>me</em>. You can separate a woman from her body, can’t you?”</p>
<p>Lotor drew his brows together. “You don’t make any sense.”</p>
<p>“It’s perfectly good sense, my Lord. I don’t want your heart and I would never allow a prince to fuck me simply because he’s a prince. But my savior, my champion, the one who set me free,” she whispered, tilting her chin up towards him. “The son of a tyrant who came to my aid when my king gave up. He can fuck me, because perhaps he needs it. I see deep sadness in your eyes, my brave redeemer.” Ember took a big chance, reaching up when she’d drifted close enough to him and setting her hands on his bare shoulders. The simple touch made his claws twitch at his sides. “I don’t know what you’ve been through and I don’t know who you’ve lost. All I know is that I wish to serve you in ways I never cared to serve my king. If the use of my body for pleasure will ease that sadness some, or the great weight you feel on your shoulders…” She squeezed him there, moved her arms so that she could wrap them around his neck. “Then I wish to help, the way you helped me.”</p>
<p>He knew he wasn’t panting but with the thumping of his heart, he felt like he needed to. It had been so long since he’d felt the intimate touch of a woman that his body seemed to be responding almost instantly now. He could feel the tips of her breasts on his chest, under her soaked dress clinging to her. He could feel her breath on his chin as she drew herself closer and the sensual way she dragged her fingertips over the skin of his shoulders and his neck. His eyelids lowered some. To take in a breath, his lips parted. Hers did too.</p>
<p>He wouldn’t close his eyes completely. He kept them on hers as best as he could, even when he felt her open lips barely touch his. She was moving slowly, so slowly for him, perhaps waiting for him to tell her to stop or even keep going. Her Altean marks, her freckles, her purple hair and eyes, she was a rainbow of colors. He felt like he was hyperventilating, his chest jumping up and down. Then he felt the softest, wettest touch of her tongue on his bottom lip.</p>
<p>Lotor’s eyes widened, and he grabbed Ember by her underarms, snapping her away from him. She didn’t gasp or yelp in fear or pain, but she did go completely frozen. He just stared at her, holding her at the fleshy area where her breasts met her side. This… had to be wrong in some way.</p>
<p>
  <em>This had to be wrong. </em>
</p>
<p>Letting her go, Lotor instantly spun around, treading back to the bank of the pond and leaving her behind without another glance or another word. He didn’t care that he was naked, she’d obviously seen a man’s naked ass before and this morning she would see his because he needed to get out of the water and away from her. With a grimace on his face, he snatched his pants from the grass of the small hill and yanked them on over his dripping legs. He climbed the hill, out of her sight. He didn’t even care to notice that he was half hard.</p>
<p>Lotor made it back to his little home and locked the doors behind him.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d once read about certain conditions that make it almost impossible for a man to sleep at night. There were so many, and for so many different species, there were more. But if a man can’t sleep without reaching for something to <em>make </em>him sleep, why not read about them all? He certainly had the time. The one his eyes had focused on the most was the mental and emotional damage one was left with after a stress inducing traumatic event that could leave a person with insomnia because of the constant paranoia.</p>
<p>It was supposed to get better, Lotor had also read a very long time ago. He was supposed to be able to sleep a little more as time went on. Time was supposed to heal all wounds.</p>
<p>Centuries later, and nothing had changed. Probably because he was trapped in an everlasting fire only he could see. Slowly burning up even though he still lived and breathed when others he’d known did not.</p>
<p>Which was why, in the middle of the night when the Alteans were asleep, he was still awake. With sleeping trousers on and an opened blue robe and his white hair tied back into a ponytail, he longed for heaviness in his eyes and not the ever increasing need to scan the atmosphere in search for a possible Galran ship.</p>
<p>His little unasked for pond swim with Ember that same morning had put him in a mood for the rest of the day, but one he was an expert at in hiding from everyone else. He wasn’t sure what to do about her other than what he’d been doing these last couple of days. Normally it wouldn’t bother him, she would be absolutely nothing in his mind if she were someone else. But the Alteans were different to him. They were special, they were his mother’s people. They had suffered because of his father, as he had. He felt connected to them, the only thing he had of the woman who’d given birth to him. They weren’t like everyone else in this universe.</p>
<p>After the flames, they were now the only people he shared a deep connection with.</p>
<p>Zarkon had taken the others from him, people he’d cared about for himself and not because of his mother. It had been nice to have something of his own, even for just one year.</p>
<p>It had shocked him this morning, Lotor knew, to feel that very sudden punch of desire as soon as Ember had touched him, and tried to kiss him. It had thrown him off balance when he’d always tried so hard to keep both of his feet on the ground so that he could be steady. It almost felt like a slight relapse, and if he gave in, something inside him would be ruined.</p>
<p>He'd wondered if it would be wrong to give in. After he’d rushed away from the pond and locked himself inside his home, he’d simply sat on his bed in his wet pants and stared straight ahead. His hair was steadily knotting up over his shoulders and his pants were uncomfortable, but he’d needed to think. At some point, he’d glanced down at his lap and saw that he actually had an erection. He couldn’t remember the last time, and perhaps that was a pathetic thing for a man. It wasn’t like masturbating helped him fall asleep. He’d tried that a long time ago with no results – would return to it every so often in case something inside him had changed - and he hadn’t slept with anyone since…</p>
<p>Instead of touching himself to remember what it felt like, Lotor had just sat there on his bed until it went away.</p>
<p>And now, in the middle of the night and inside his yurt with the lights still on and his many monitors still beeping and his reports still open, he wondered what he would do to force himself asleep tonight.</p>
<p>His home on New Altea was of average size for one person. He didn’t need much and wanted to keep the larger units for the families, and he also had his ship not too far away. It was just one round room with a small area for food, a lavatory, his office area with standing desks covered in tablets and monitors, and his large bed that took up a lot of unnecessary space but he preferred bigger beds. He was larger than the Alteans, after all, and even though he couldn’t sleep without some kind of assistance, he still liked the room for when he could.</p>
<p>Once he had been able to sleep. As Lotor stared away at nothing as he stood at his desks, he reached up to touch the band around his arm over the blue robe. Once he’d been a man who could climb into his comfortable bed with the wide doors leading to the balcony open so the night breeze could drift in, carrying the scent of the lush gardens down below and the distant sound of the sea. Once he’d not slept alone.</p>
<p>With a slight frown, Lotor reminded himself that all that was <em>what was</em>, and not <em>what is</em>.</p>
<p>Now there was only the fire, and a strange twisting in his heart when he saw the many adoring faces of the last of the Altean people.</p>
<p>Like magic, Lotor was snapped back to reality when the security monitor on his desk alerted him. A guest, at this hour of night. Lotor could think of only one person who would possibly be standing outside his door at such a time. When the screen popped up, his suspicions were confirmed.</p>
<p>The camera focused on Ember as she patiently waited for entry. The doors wouldn’t open unless he allowed them to with a simple command, and because the security tech was the same for all the homes, she knew exactly where to look, near the top of the door. Smiling as usual, Lotor saw, studying her. She made it completely known that it was her requesting entry, and also stood back far enough away so he could properly see her attire. No white this evening, he discovered, and maybe it had been her plan to change from various white dresses to the very thin black dressing gown with a plunging neckline. The simple change from white to black did something to his brain, made her appear more alluring than she already was. Her wavy purple hair stood out brightly against the black she wore, and her eyes practically sparkled like lavender crystals.</p>
<p>She just stood there, waiting, smiling, ever the patient and giving woman who wanted to help ease the sadness she supposedly saw in her <em>brave redeemer</em>.</p>
<p>Lotor swallowed as he stared at her on the screen. This was wrong, this was wrong.</p>
<p>Wasn’t it?</p>
<p>Letting her in would no doubt lead to intimacy. They both knew it, and it was what she’d been trying to give him since the morning she’d brought him muffins, maybe even the day they’d met when she’d been rolling around in the grass with a bunch of children chasing her. Just a very grateful woman who would be dead without his intervention. One who loved him as a leader and wished to serve him and please him in ways she’d not cared to do with King Alfor, who was nothing but the face of resentment in her eyes. A king who had kept her from the sun. He’d given her the sun, Lotor thought. Not the king of the Alteans, but the exiled Galran prince.</p>
<p>Without a plan and without even making a proper decision, he found himself activating the doors to open for her.</p>
<p>She happily glided right in like a spirit, like that breeze that had once gently moved through his curtains on another planet when he’d been able to sleep.</p>
<p>“Good evening, my Lord,” she said with a curtsey.</p>
<p>Lotor had to be impressed with her for getting this far. If she weren’t so passionate about living a carefree life playing with Altean children in flower fields and rivers, he might consider it a shame that he couldn’t bring her in with his generals. She was quite ambitious for someone who wanted – and deserved – to live a lazy life in the paradise he’d built for her. She had a knack for saying exactly the right thing to get her way, even if she had to work a bit at it. It was a talent his generals didn’t exactly have amongst them. He was the one who took on that role.</p>
<p>Ember approached him slowly, allowing him to really look at her as she did the same to him. The scans outside the door already told him she carried no weapon, not that he believed she was out to harm him anymore. Her lavender eyes were full of that adoration for him, the need to give him anything he could ever want because he was the reason why they all lived peacefully. She would probably take a bullet for him if he needed her to.</p>
<p>Her head tilted to the side. “Why are you frowning?”</p>
<p><em>What is</em>, Lotor told himself again. Never <em>what was</em>. <em>What was</em> had burned away in the fire when he’d made his father unhappy. And here he was yet again, he realized. Staring at so many faces who expected him to take care of them because he was their one and only hope.</p>
<p>Her Altean marks weren’t glowing, but with that sparkle in her eyes and the huskiness in her charismatic voice, they looked as if they were. “What can I do for you, my Lord, to rid you of that frown?”</p>
<p>He couldn’t stop his ears from flicking back at the sensuality in her voice, or the way his eyes went down to her always bare feet mostly hidden by her long dressing gown. The black fabric was incredibly thin, her sun kissed skin even faintly peeking through the fibers, and he could plainly see that she wore no undergarments when his eyes roamed up and found her full breasts and the neckline that barely covered them. Just like in the pond that very morning, he didn’t even try to hide his gazing at her body. This was what she wanted.</p>
<p>This was what she wanted to give him, to use her body if he so desired.</p>
<p>Ember then hummed with a grin on her face, not minding his silence. “I know what I shall do.”</p>
<p>She reached for her shoulders, and with a simple brush of her fingers, her loose black gown slipped off and pooled at her feet.</p>
<p>He’d never seen a completely naked Altean woman before.</p>
<p>Her body was exquisite, not hard and muscled up like his generals and female Galran commanders and not lanky and slender like his last lover, but soft and curved in all the right places, in all the best places. Tanned full breasts and grabbable hips, and the most lovely redpurple Altean markings along her skin. She stood there confidently before the man who was so important to her, proudly showing him what she would offer.</p>
<p>Lotor didn’t say anything or make a move, and he wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Just like in the pond, he stood in one spot like a statue, eyes lingering on the thin purple curls between her legs before slowly making their way back up her body. When he returned to her breasts, he watched her arms move to cover them.</p>
<p>His blue eyes snapped up to hers.</p>
<p>Ember didn’t look terribly uncomfortable or embarrassed, but the smile had fallen from her pretty lips and she looked more uncertain than he’d ever seen her. Even after he’d rejected her twice before, she still hadn’t looked the way she did now. It was unsettling.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” he asked her softly, finally speaking.</p>
<p>“I… apologize, my Lord. I suppose I’ve been rather presumptuous. Yesterday and this morning you spurned my propositions, though you didn’t command me to leave you alone or punish me for my actions. But you’ve also made no move to touch me or allow me to touch you the way I wish to, and now I’m not all that certain if you looked at me in the pond or even tonight with desire. I should have asked you your preferences. Is it men?”</p>
<p>Lotor only blinked at her. “Men?”</p>
<p>“Yes. Do you only ever lie with men? It is perfectly okay if you do. There are quite a few men here who would gladly take my place. It would take no time at all to request one.”</p>
<p>Request one, he repeated mentally. So this is what it had come to here, and it was his own fault for thinking that it wouldn’t. He hadn’t wanted the Alteans to revere him, he’d only wanted them to accept that what he was doing what the right thing to do, something any decent person would do. He would do anything to keep them safe, for his mother and for himself. And for others in his heart who hadn’t made it. Foolish people who’d also loved him when he hadn’t deserved it in the end.</p>
<p>He’d been trying to ignore the Altean’s love and admiration. They wanted a statue of him and he’d told Matteo <em>no</em>. He wouldn’t survive it if something happened to them too, just like the others, before his father had banished him…</p>
<p>If he couldn’t stop it… perhaps it was time to just embrace it, and accept his lot in life.</p>
<p>“Don’t go,” he said suddenly, when her movement of bending down for her gown snapped him out of his thoughts. He watched her eyes light up in hope. “I like your body. I like women.”</p>
<p>She didn’t ask for more details or if he perhaps wanted the men too. She just continued on with her little show. Ember stepped closer to him, close enough that he could smell her desire for him and whatever soap she’d washed herself in before heading for his home. It was like she knew he would grant her entry. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to fuck such an alluring and eager woman?</p>
<p>A struggling man, Lotor supposed. Why was it so damn difficult to just yank her close, toss her on his bed and take her?</p>
<p>Because the meaningless band was still wrapped around his arm, and it was only his own fault why he couldn’t seem to take it off and put it away. Because he’d had reservations about getting involved with the Alteans in this way, believing he would be using them immorally.</p>
<p>Either one was a fine excuse.</p>
<p>“I enjoyed our swim this morning,” she said to him, her lashes fluttering. “If you didn’t get the chance to look then…”</p>
<p>Ember started spinning in a slow circle, wanting him to see every last inch of her body, maybe to still determine if she was good enough for him. She gave him her tanned back, not needing to move her purple hair to the side because it only brushed her shoulders. His blue eyes found another sweet dusting of freckles on the cheeks of her shapely ass. Apparently she enjoyed the sun to kiss every last inch of her to keep her skin tone as even as possible, and that put many interesting images in his head.</p>
<p>Lotor swallowed and his hands fisted at his sides. This woman was definitely not like the other Altean females.</p>
<p>Over her shoulder she said, “My entire body is yours to do with whatever you wish, my Lord. It doesn’t matter where you’d like to enter me.”</p>
<p>He took a big breath, not bothering to hide it.</p>
<p>After her slow spin was done, Ember reached up for his shoulders. She snaked her fingers between his skin and the blue robe he wore, and brushed it off as she’d done to her own. The robe fell to the floor and now he was half naked, her lavender eyes instantly lowering to his body to admire him. “Look at you,” she breathed, her hands lying flat on his skin as she moved them down over his bare chest, his abs, before slowly moving back up. He couldn’t stop the shudder. It had been so long since he’d been touched like this. “You are an incredibly handsome man, Prince Lotor. Even if you were a commoner like me, you’d still be breathtaking. It is such an honor to be able to touch you like this. May I let your hair down?”</p>
<p>Her probing fingers had moved up to his hairline at his neck, moving no further until he gave her a nod. His body felt strange to him, especially after she gently pulled the tie from his long locks so that they would fall over his shoulders, causing her eyes to darken in lust and her teeth to sink into her bottom lip as if she was having trouble containing herself suddenly. He appreciated the slowness though. He needed for it to be slow.</p>
<p>Somewhere deep in his heart… he still foolishly felt he was being unfaithful.</p>
<p>Ember ran her hands down the length of his white hair, much longer than her own, so perhaps the difference was pleasant to her. He thought maybe he should finally touch her in return, but it was surprisingly hard for him to do so. He wanted to do many things to her, like sink his fangs into the meat of her tanned shoulder, or cup her lovely breasts, or slide his tongue into her mouth while he fucked her. His body felt strange, he thought again, and he <em>wanted</em> to do all those things, but somehow he couldn’t move to actually do it. Something was holding him back.</p>
<p>Maybe it was that place deep in his heart…</p>
<p>She craned her head up to meet his eyes, smiled at him. Holding his gaze, she grazed her fingertips down his stomach until she met the waistband of his pants, continuing her path over the fabric until her hand found the ferocious bulge between his legs. Feeling her hand there and what she found seemed to surprise them both. Her purple eyes widened as her hand cupped him over his pants, inspecting him by touch alone.</p>
<p>“Oh my,” she sighed, her hand moving up and down gently over his length. “You’re bigger than Altean men, aren’t you? You must be all Galra here. That won’t be a problem,” she told him sweetly, her eyes flashing when she heard his very audible breathing. “I’ve been with a Galra before, a long time ago.”</p>
<p>He hadn’t even been aware of his straining erection, not until she’d reached for it. He couldn’t remember what desire had felt like this morning, but since the pond he’d gotten hard twice. Maybe he’d been feeling it all along, and just needed to rediscover it. Sometimes something like this went hand in hand with his condition that didn’t allow him to sleep peacefully.</p>
<p>It felt… really good. Her hand on his cock, even over his pants.</p>
<p>Ember then set her hands on his hips, pushing gently to encourage him to start stepping back towards his bed behind him. He went willingly because he didn’t know what else to do, or rather, still couldn’t seem to move and take charge. To do all the things he wanted to do to her. It would sure be nice to render that pretty smiling mouth with all her pretty words speechless and make her see stars while she grasped helplessly at his shoulders. Suddenly he missed doing that to a woman very much.</p>
<p>Instead, he sat when his legs hit the edge of the bed, allowed more petting at his white hair before she took the waistband of his pants and tugged them down and off his long legs. His cock seemed to have a mind of its own, he realized as he stared at himself, once again stunned by the bodily reaction that didn’t seem connected with his foggy brain. He was already slick for her, perfectly ready to hit all her sweet spots and empty deep inside her. He almost wanted to touch it himself, just out of curiosity.</p>
<p>With a soft touch and press on his chest, Lotor once again obliged her and scooted back along the bed, resting his head on the fluffy blue pillows. Ember hastily crawled up and straddled him.</p>
<p>He had a beautiful naked woman on top of him ready to fuck him and he couldn’t even touch her still. All Lotor did was reach for the pillow under his head, and hold onto it as if he needed the support.</p>
<p>He watched her lavender eyes drift towards the band around his arm. She was quiet and appeared contemplative, and eventually leaned down to murmur into his ear.</p>
<p>“If it would help you, my Lord, you can always close your eyes and think of another’s face. I don’t mind at all. You can even call me by a different name. All that matters is that you experience pleasure, as much as I am capable of giving you.” She moved to hover her mouth over his, and for a moment he thought she would try to kiss him again.</p>
<p>When he still remained motionless, she set her lips on his chest instead, and proceeded to find all the little sensitive areas on his torso with soft kisses and delicate swipes of her tongue.</p>
<p>Lotor stared up at the ceiling. His claws sank into the fluff of the pillow and he inhaled sharply through his nose when his cock settled between her soft breasts so she could flick her tongue along his lower stomach. The feeling was actually… really nice, he thought, closing his eyes for a moment. Having her take her time like this, still going slow because maybe she sensed he needed it, feeling her carefully worship all of him instead of going straight for his cock down her throat like others in the distant past long before his fateful assignment that would shatter him to pieces. It was nice to be with someone like Ember, who had no ulterior motive other than pleasuring him.</p>
<p>He was everything to her. He’d given her the sun, the chance to be herself.</p>
<p>Lotor opened his eyes, glanced down at her. He settled his arms at his sides instead of ruining his pillow and watched her work, the way she adored every last inch of him because, to her, he deserved this. Swallowing, a couple of his fingers moved, traced over some of her purple locks spread out over the blue of the bedspread. Her wavy hair was the same color as his skin, soft and bouncy and somehow always attractively messy even after rolling around in the grass or swimming in a pond in a tiny white dress.</p>
<p>Her head then popped up. “Do you want my mouth, Prince Lotor?”</p>
<p>Stars, if he wasn’t eventually driven crazy by trauma, she would finish the job. “No. No,” he said a second time, in case she felt like making sure. “Not tonight.”</p>
<p>One step at a time, he thought. This was already one hell of a big step for him. Who knew if he could even see it through?</p>
<p>“Do you want to fuck me now?” she asked.</p>
<p>Well… maybe he could see it through for sure. It was time for this next step.</p>
<p>“Yes,” he answered.</p>
<p>Ember straddled him again, didn’t comment on his lack of touching her or how he didn’t seem to be very eager to have sex with her if she ignored his erection. Not much other than pleasuring him seemed to be going through her mind and her expressions were light and happy and sexual all mixed together. Until he told her no or shoved her away again, she would keep on going until she completed her task. She reached between her legs to take hold of him, preparing them both for when she would sink down onto him. He could feel the heat of her cunt. She was also wet, he discovered as he inhaled and held it. Very wet. Knowing she would mate with him must’ve been a great turn on for her.</p>
<p>When she took him inside her in one swift motion, Lotor did close his eyes. Squeezed them tight, clawed at the sheets at his sides and exhaled one fast breath.</p>
<p>She hummed almost dreamily, as if having a religious experience. She stretched so nicely around him, like a perfect fit, setting her hands on his chest to keep herself nice and steady. Her hips rocked slightly from side to side, giving him a few moments to take it all in. He was once again thankful for her slowness.</p>
<p>He was deep inside a woman after going so long without sex, and all he could suddenly think about was how she’d never asked him for protection. She hadn’t cared, she <em>didn’t </em>care. She’d sunk down onto his cock so willingly and hadn’t even bothered to know if he was clean of disease. He knew she was, just as he knew it was a rare chance if he could conceive. She was being reckless.</p>
<p>The only thing that mattered to her was her brave redeemer.</p>
<p>Lotor heard himself groan as he opened his eyes slowly, as he felt her start to rock atop him, her body undulating nice and slow. Her lavender eyes were focused on him, her cheeks already flushed under her freckles and her pretty mouth open. He even caught sight of her wet tongue. He groaned again, felt his hips press up instinctively from this rumbling need inside him to take her roughly, and as quickly as it would take to get his seed inside her.</p>
<p>The wrap on his arm was still there.</p>
<p>And as Lotor gazed up at the Altean woman with the purple hair and eyes and markings the color of wine, wishing with his whole heart that she was someone else… something struck him like a bolt of lightning. Something he hadn’t felt since the moment he’d opened his eyes to fire and listened to Zarkon banish him from the Empire, ripping his birthright away from him. He’d felt every emotion a grieving and lonely man could feel in this time since that devastating fire, since invisible flames had gobbled him up too, never to dissipate. But what hit him now was the realization that he needed to accept those flames, and all that they’d brought him.</p>
<p>He could not stop them. He could not go back in time and evacuate all he could. No matter how hard he tried with the orders he gave his generals, or the planets he’d liberated, or even with these Alteans… it would not stop those flames. It would not bring those he’d lost back. And it would most certainly not make the wrap around his arm mean something again.</p>
<p>Ember had left the old Altea behind, didn’t want the bondage of something old holding her down because she <em>could not go back</em>. She’d let go, and flourished here.</p>
<p>He wanted to flourish too. He wanted to move on. He wanted to save this universe, the Alteans, maybe one day the Galra too. He wanted to stop the evil, his father and his witch and all who stood with Zarkon.</p>
<p>He wanted to be their great leader.</p>
<p>Suddenly the wrap didn’t feel so tight. Instead, it felt like a reminder that gave him strength, a symbol that the flames would never destroy what was his ever again.</p>
<p>And now being inside Ember felt incredible. Like a sudden burst of <em>life</em> he’d been missing out on.</p>
<p>As his eyes darkened and his pupils shrunk into lustful slits in an instant, Lotor took her thighs spread over him, even pressed his claws into her warm and soft skin so she would bear his marks when they were done. She was still moving delicately and slow, holding his cock inside her with only the slightest friction. He was suddenly desperate to come, to make her come too so he could feel her orgasm around him. He couldn’t remember the last time he came and he wanted that sensation again, multiple times.</p>
<p>Ember seemed to sense some change in him and it pleased her, especially in the squeeze on her thighs. She breathed out, “Prince Lotor.”</p>
<p>“You feel good,” he told her, his own voice husky now with desire. “Wet and tight. Go harder, Ember.”</p>
<p>She shuddered at the command. “Yes, my Lord.”</p>
<p>Sitting up taller on top of him, she steadied herself with her thighs he held down and the strength of her core to rock faster. His eyes were drawn to the slight bounce of her breasts, and finally giving into his instincts, Lotor reached up to cup them, squeezing nice and firmly as he relaxed on the pillow, his long white hair spread out around it.</p>
<p>“Harder,” he commanded.</p>
<p>He was starting to sweat and so did she when she picked up the pace, bouncing on him now, fucking him into the bed and it made him growl up at her. He kneaded her breasts, rubbed at her nipples until her head was tilting back so she could moan, her wavy purple bangs clinging to her forehead.</p>
<p>Ember then gasped and even yelped some when he grabbed at her, rolling them with great speed so he could hover over her now, finally taking charge the way he’d wanted to earlier but couldn’t seem to find the emotional strength to do so. His hair was messy, the white ends reaching down far enough to tickle at her breasts, and his blue eyes were wild. Immediately he began to fuck her, his hips smacking into her thighs, her legs bouncing in the air around him as her nails dug into his shoulders. He’d missed the pinch of a woman’s nails in his skin like this, and it made him frantic for the feeling over and over again.</p>
<p>As he continued to thrust hard, Lotor took her by the neck. He leaned down close to her face, keeping his eyes locked on hers because he was crazy for the pretty purple of them, the eyes of a lovely schemer who’d wormed her way into his bed because she wanted the prince she loved to fuck her. He moved his thumb, set it on the soft skin right below her bottom lip. With no persuasion at her, she obediently opened her mouth for him.</p>
<p>His tongue entered her mouth first, before his lips found hers. Because of his hard thrusting, she was gasping through her open mouth, but he liked it. He liked seeing her like this, so delicate and speechless and willing underneath him and letting him tongue her mouth before he finally closed his lips over hers, kissing her deeply.</p>
<p>Lotor hummed against her mouth, relishing in the taste of her, in the clenching of her cunt. He remembered he liked kissing, especially during sex. Two lovely wet places he could sink inside all he wanted. As he kissed her, he felt her move his hair to the side, rubbing it back and away from his sweaty face so she could properly see him, so he could see all of her too. She was a beautiful woman but she looked especially attractive like this, like she was made for it. Perhaps she thought she was, he mused as he felt her run her hand down his muscled back and over a few scars. Perhaps she thought her great purpose was to lie for the Altean’s only chance at freedom.</p>
<p>He could feel it building, the need to come. His breath hitched and he knew he would finish any moment now, decided she would come too with him. As he fucked her, slower now but harder so she would keep moaning, Lotor slid one arm under her neck, cradling her close. He kissed her lips and her neck, down to the soft swells of her breasts before licking at a nipple while he pushed his other hand between their bodies. She would come when he came, and as his tongue found her elfin ear, he turned his palm so two fingertips would find her clit, rubbing her hot wet flesh and making her whimper underneath him.</p>
<p>She grasped at him hard, once again giving him those exhilarating pinches with her nails.</p>
<p>“I’m coming,” she breathed out sharply. His blue eyes illuminated with the pulsing glow coming from her marks as she came.</p>
<p>He felt it and it was the greatest feeling in the world, the glowing of her marks captivating him. He had no choice but to turn away from it and panted against her neck, forcing her to cling to him so he could empty deep inside her. Lotor felt all the pain go away, all the despair and all the stress. It was whisked away, and it would come back, but for a moment it was all gone. He made a woman come again, he had control. He even bucked against her hard, driven by the need to fill her up.</p>
<p>And when he had nothing more to give, he collapsed on top of her.</p>
<p>In the moments afterward, he didn’t exactly fall asleep, but he did feel himself fall away from the present. He felt the body of a woman under him, both the outside and inside of her. He felt her limbs holding him close and the softness of her breasts against his chest, breasts he desperately wanted to rest his head upon and sleep peacefully. The band around his arm, the smell of her, taking him away to before the fire, before his exile. When he had been happy for the first time in his life. He felt if he lifted his head now, he would gaze into another pair of eyes, another face smiling up at him. Hear another’s voice that he would never hear again.</p>
<p>It was nice to pretend. And instead of despair, he converted his longing into more strength and determination.</p>
<p>He would have the future he desired.</p>
<p>Lotor opened his eyes, felt the slightest squirming underneath him. Not enough to actually signal him, but enough that he realized he was causing some discomfort. Instantly he lifted his dead weight off of Ember, and stared down at her as she gasped in a big breath she hadn’t been able to take when he’d been crushing her unknowingly.</p>
<p>He softly apologized as he slid out of her body, also inspecting her burgundy markings and seeing that they were no longer glowing before he rolled off of her. As Ember continued to catch her breath next to him, Lotor reached to a nearby bedside table, grabbed a small towel and handed it to her. She smiled in thanks, sat up and placed it between her legs to clean herself up, and wait for any emissions to seep out. As she did that, he gave her his back to lay on his side, pulling his blue sheets over his lower half.</p>
<p>His bed was suddenly extremely soft and comfortable, and his eyes a tad heavy.</p>
<p>“That was nice,” Ember chirped, tossing the towel into a trash bin and stretching her arms up. “To be honest with you, my Lord, I did not expect a release myself, so I thank you.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” He didn’t really know how to respond to that. What did she take him for, some spoiled brute in bed? “You’re… most welcome, then.”</p>
<p>She gave a big happy sigh, then cheerfully hopped out of his bed, plucking her black gown from the floor and pulling it on over her naked body. “Before I go, Prince Lotor,” she added as she combed her fingers through her bouncy purple hair. “I should tell you that I am not your only option if ever you are in need of physical release. Many Alteans are aware of what our freedom has cost you. You have only to ask those who are willing, and they will gladly come to your bed. I could even bring another with me, if ever that need strikes you.”</p>
<p>“Goodnight, Ember.” It was the only answer he was capable of giving after such a proposition.</p>
<p>Though he wasn’t looking at her, he could practically see the grin on her beautiful face. “I hope you sleep well.” She made her way to the doors, stopped. Turning back to him one last time, she asked, “Would you like for me to return to you tomorrow night?”</p>
<p>He snuggled into the bed, cradled the pillow closer to his face. His skin gleamed with sweat but he couldn’t seem to move to clean himself up. He didn’t want to move at all, he realized. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t mind being still. Tonight, simply resting would not feel like a curse to him.</p>
<p>“Yes,” he called out finally, closing his eyes.</p>
<p>“Goodnight, my Lord.”</p>
<p>Without drink or medication or even constant movement to wear himself out, Lotor gave in to the exhaustion that had been lingering inside him for centuries. He didn’t feel the heat of the flames or see them dancing behind his eyelids and he didn’t feel the snapping of his grieving heart that gave him pain. He was just tired, and without fear of what his dreams would show him.</p>
<p>“Lights off,” he mumbled, half asleep already as the bulbs clicked off with his command.</p>
<p>Lotor sank into his bed, and slept peacefully.</p>
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